GRAND RAPIDS — Retail clinics, increased company wellness efforts and the “dissection” of national health care reforms were among the changes predicted Thursday by West Michigan leaders at a forum on trends in health care.

“There will be a lot of chaos as we learn what works and doesn’t work,” said Dr. Susan Sevensma, director of medical education at Metro Health Hospital. “We have to learn from the past and involve patients in the process.”

In West Michigan, jobs, research and confidence in the health care sector are on the upswing, according to a Grand Valley State University analysis presented at an Alliance for Health forum at GVSU’s Grand Rapids campus.

Breon also predicted more competition and efforts to improve efficiency among health care organizations. And employers will likely increase wellness efforts to lower health care utilization rates, he said.

“We’re already seeing businesses looking at ways to shift costs to their employees,” he said. “In 2011, that will continue.”

Dominic Siciliano, the president of the West Michigan Association of Health Underwriters, said the attempt to repeal national health care reform is “largely a symbolic act” and will not succeed. But he said the legislation will be “dissected,” and lawmakers will attempt to change some of its provisions, such as the mandate for individual health insurance.

A growing number of people without medical insurance is blamed for two “disturbing trends” cited in the GVSU report. The number of patients going to emergency rooms rose 2.6 percent, and the amount of uncompensated care at hospitals is up an average of almost 16 percent — to $24.4 million. For the largest hospitals, it averages about $58 million.

“The amount of uncompensated costs gets shifted to the guys who have good insurance plans,” Singh said.

In medical research and development, the study found a rapid increase in patents and patent applications since 2000.

“We have had a 24 percent increase in the number of companies participating,” Isely said. “We’ve had a 35 percent increase in the total number of patents or pre-patents or patent applications generated.”

The GVSU report also examined health care behaviors and risks. According to the report, West Michigan has:

— A higher rate of heavy drinking and binge drinking than Detroit or Michigan.
— Lower rates of obesity and inadequate physical activity than Detroit and Michigan.
— A higher rate of smoking than Detroit, but a lower rate than Michigan.
— A lower incidence of cancer, diabetes and asthma, strokes and heart disease than Detroit and Michigan.
— Fewer people with poor health or disability and fewer low birth-weight babies.